Even if you didn’t experience the early 1990s first hand, you are probably well aware of one of the big television success stories that thrived in that decade: Full House. The hit, TGIF programming block family sitcom was (and still is) adored by millions of people who grew up watching the series back in the day, and was even so popular in its eight-season run that a spinoff show for Netflix had its own successful run of five seasons. Stars Andrea Barber and Jodie Sweetin recently reminisced about their experiences with their late co-star Bob Saget, and noted that he “struggled” with being known as America’s Dad.
What Did Jodie Sweetin And Andrea Barber Say About Bob Saget’s Issues With Being Known As America’s Dad?
Full House excelled on ABC for long enough that the comedy launched catch phrases and the careers of stars Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as the daughters of Bob Saget’s widowed Danny Tanner. Andrea Barber (who portrayed annoying Tanner family friend, Kimmy) and Sweetin now host a rewatch podcast, How Rude, Tanneritos, and a recent episode saw the duo dedicate some time to talking about Bob Saget.
For both actresses (who’ve opened up about things like aspects of the Tanner family they wish were done better and which early Full House episode they hate) this project marks either the first time they’ve watched the show that made them famous, or the first time they’ve rewatched. This naturally means that it brings up lots of memories of working on the sitcom and of the large, continually close-knit cast. Barber noted that she can now understand why so many fans looked up to Saget, and said:
Yeah, I can definitely see why America views him as America’s Dad. Like, he is the dad that a lot of people didn’t have or wish that they had. [I] absolutely see that for sure.
Though Danny was a disco-loving neat freak, he was also a perfectly supportive dad whose positive qualities far outweighed any of his decidedly unhip tendencies. So, it was pretty easy to love Danny as a parent, especially if you were a kid watching who was missing that fatherly touch from your life.
However, while Saget was by all accounts a good dude with a lot of loving friends and an amazing family, the career stand up comedian had fostered a very different persona on stage in comedy clubs. And this is what’s led Sweetin and Barber to feel he had some trouble with being seen only as a cuddly, sweet, and somewhat bland nice guy. Sweetin continued:
Sure, and I think, you know, Bob kind of struggled with that title. I think over the years. It was great when he was doing the show and you know, he had America’s Funny Home Videos, but it was also, I think, really frustrating for him as a comic. Because we all know how Bob’s comedy is, and it’s, you know, relatively blue and adult and ridiculous and unhinged. It became really hard to be that person and this other person. People either thought that one or the other was who you really were and not that you could be multifaceted or be a really ridiculous, you know, funny, dirty stand-up comic and also like have a side that is a family guy.
With the main thing that led to his fame being his stint on a family show, it does make a lot of sense that Saget would have been stuck in that mold and not know how to really get audiences to understand what seemed like two completely different sides to his personality. As Barber noted:
Two things can exist, multiple things can exist at once. Yes, but people want to pigeonhole you or typecast you.
Luckily, those somewhat hard feelings didn’t persist. Saget (who shared his own thoughts on death and aging in an interview that turned out to be one of his last) had come to terms with his dual legacy as one of TV’s most beloved dads and a truly off the wall comedian enough to spend a good amount of time on Fuller House during its run. As Sweetin added:
But I think, as he got older, after he kind of I think went through — and I feel like we all went through that period of like you’re just like, ‘Oh my god, I wish something else, you know, and then all of a sudden you go, ‘Oh, wait, actually this is really great. And I think once he, once he had some perspective and got to kind of go and do more of the stuff he wanted to do creatively, I think he really came back to it and was like, ‘Oh, actually this is really who I am. And he just became more Danny Tanner as he got older.
I’m sure knowing that Bob Saget became so comfortable with the Danny Tanner side of his actual personality that he was able to fully embrace it makes all the fans who still think of him as America’s Dad very happy.
